While the biological process of birth is largely static, childbirth is a socially mitigated event, which is shaped by trends in different cultures at various times. The social investment in childbirth is evident in the recent news coverage of Princess Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and the birth of her second child, Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, included speculation about her use of pain relief, scrutiny of her appearance, and criticism of her swift departure from the hospital.

The partnership between the University of Windsor History Department and Windsor Regional Hospital seemed to strike a chord. A big crowd, many of them former students of the school, filled out the lobby of the Met campus in hopes that the archive’s creator, former director of the school, Kathleen Moderwell, might say a few words and she was finally coaxed to the microphone to reflect on the meaning of the school. Typically self-effacing, she focused our attention on the role of Dorothy Colquhoun, the school’s founding director, her mentor and predecessor.